A Brief Look Backwards

It's that time of year to get all introspective and such.  Also, and this may be unprecedented...I did NOT go to the Comic Book Store on my way home from work today.  It wasn't because it was bad weather, or that I had other things to do...there just weren't any books that I was interested in.  With the possible exception of Ms. Marvel, which I never seem to be able to grab when it first comes in, and have to wait for the reorder, but I'll just look for that next week.

Anyhoo.

It was...an interesting year to be sure.

There were some very very good books.  There was a whole lot of terrible books, and most of them were probably in-between.

At Marvel, we had Young Avengers which I adored, and then we had Loki: Agent of Asgard which I have also adored.  Having Loki trying to actually try and change his fate, is a great idea, and it also makes him a lot more like the historical version of Loki, in that he was a Trickster God, not an Evil God. He may have gotten the Aesir into trouble, but he usually also managed to get them out.

We had the aforementioned Ms. Marvel, which is an absolutely charming book.  So is She-Hulk, and it breaks my heart that it is going to be ending.  Hawkeye has been amazing, if a tad on the late side.  Daredevil has been simply...awesome.  Thor has been fun as well.  That's about it for me from the Marvel side, I prefer their quirkier books to the nine million versions of Avengers vs X-Men.

On the DC side, Red Lanterns was probably my favorite.  Charles Soule, who interestingly enough has also been writing some of my favorite books at Marvel, is pretty damned good at this whole writing gig, and I am devastated that DC is letting him go.  Red Lanterns...beside the fact that it has Guy Gardner in it...has been the best Green Lantern Book all year.

Wonder Woman, up until the end of the year, was also superb.  I may not have agreed with some of the things that Azzarello came up with, but by gosh, he did it so well, and Chiang's artwork was sublime.  I loved that book, and I am missing it already.

Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo actually turned me into a Bat-Fan, and I never thought that would have happened.  Greg Tomasi and Pat Gleason have done their usual excellent job on Batman and Robin. Aquaman was pretty good, Batwoman WAS good, and then it wasn't, and Batgirl wasn't, and then it was.  Sandman came out again, and although there is always a LOOONG time between issues, it has been pretty damned fabulous.

Fables is coming to an end, along with Fairest, and although they aren't quite as fantastical as they were at the beginning, I still enjoy them, and I'll miss when it is gone.

Justice League hasn't been bad, although I've liked Justice League United better.

The Green Lantern books, still have their place in my heart...I just wish that the stories were better.  They're not BAD per se, but they are merely average.

The 52 Universe is still here, unfortunately.  I'm hoping that this little experiment in Fan Fiction will have played itself out by March, when they seem to be cancelling a whole passel of books, and doing some other stuff. Plus the whole Multiverse stuff seems to be interesting. I have to admit that the latest Captain Marvel/Shazaam book was sensational.

I must remember to mention Saga.  Gosharootie, it is wonderful.  

I'm getting better about dropping books when I don't enjoy them anymore.  I used to really hang on far too long, hoping that maybe THIS month, things would turn around.  I don't give them that much time anymore, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, but they had better have something to keep me coming back, or I'm dumping them.  Saves me both money and angst.

I'm not even going to discuss the crappy stuff, because then I'd be here for another hour or so, and who needs that?  So here's hoping that 2015 is a great year for all of us...and for Comics too.

Happy New Year!